


Piercer Of Lies

by ElenaCee



Series: Devil's Trap [1]
Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Supernatural Elements, devil reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-28
Updated: 2017-02-16
Packaged: 2018-09-20 11:46:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9489755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElenaCee/pseuds/ElenaCee
Summary: Azrael shoots Lucifer with the Piercer of Lies. What remains is the naked truth, and Chloe finally must face the facts.Another version of Chloe seeing Lucifer's Devil face. Takes place sometime after episode 2x12 with some spoilers for this ep, but ignores the main events.





	1. Chapter 1

 

Another case solved, another perp reduced to a gibbering wreck by the simple expedient of her infuriating partner merely looking at the guy. By now, Chloe was almost - but not quite - used to it, both to the fact that Lucifer could clearly do whatever it was he did, and to the fact that she still didn’t know what it was he did or how he did it. She had resolved not to ask. She’d only get the “I am the Devil” explanation again.

She sighed. It was simply another case of needing the eggs, she supposed.

“Well,” Lucifer said, turning to her with his familiar smug expression, “that’s him served, and it isn’t even time for lunch yet. We’re getting boringly good at this whole detecting lark, Detective.” There was a twinkle in his dark eyes that she had by now learned to look for, one telling her that he was deliberately winding her up in what could be construed either as good-natured banter or as part of foreplay Lucifer-style, whatever she might desire it to mean.

Rolling her eyes, she opened her mouth to tell him that there was nothing boring about police work that successfully brought murderers behind bars when she saw his eyes widen in something that looked remarkably like shock as he shifted his focus to something behind her. His expression was unlike any she had ever seen from him before; it sat so uneasily on his usually suave and in-control face that her cop instincts responded instantly, the playful mood evaporating.

She whirled, her hand automatically going for the gun at her hip.

The sight that greeted her was that of a woman, tall, slim, black hair, dark eyes, and holding a - crossbow. Aimed at Lucifer.

_Well, that’s new._

Before Chloe could even draw up her gun, the woman pulled the lever. The crossbow gave a twanging sound even as Lucifer yelled “No!”. His voice cut off in a choke as he was propelled backwards by the impact of the projectile.

Feeling herself go cold inside, Chloe kept her focus on the woman and fired her gun at her, one, two, three times, each bullet hitting its target, but the woman merely smiled at her before dismissing her and turning back to where Lucifer had fallen.

“Brother,” she said with an accent Chloe couldn’t place, “it is time for you to stop with this charade. That free will you covet so much only works when one has all the information. I believe it’s called an ‘informed decision’.” Her dark eyes briefly flicked to Chloe. “Father requires you to come clean with her now.”

 _Focus_. Chloe kept both her eyes and her weapon on the woman who had called Lucifer ‘brother’. “Who are you? What do you want?”

The woman finally deigned to spare Chloe her attention, smiling serenely. “Make him own up to what he is.”

Next thing Chloe knew, the woman had disappeared before her eyes. One second she was there, spent crossbow in one hand and an almost sad smile on her face, the next she was gone as if she’d never existed.

Right. First things first. Dismissing the past thirty seconds or so as something she’d deal with later, Chloe ran the short distance to where Lucifer had fallen and dropped to her knees next to him. “Lucifer! Can you hear me? What -”

She broke off. He appeared to be conscious, or at least his eyes were open, but he was barely moving beyond taking fast, shallow breaths. His hands were clutching the crossbow projectile - a slim, silvery bolt protruding from his chest, dead center, having apparently penetrated his sternum. She could see him straining to yank the thing free, but he couldn’t, and at last his hands fell away weakly, the bolt still in his chest.

Her training reminded her not to try to pull the bolt out.  Left where it was, it would plug up the wound until help arrived. Besides, it could have barbs and such.

She whipped out her phone, intending to call an ambulance. Then she remembered that the paramedics would want to know whether the patient was responsive, so she bent over him, trying to catch his unfocused gaze. “Lucifer! Lucifer…”

No response, just the sound of fast, shallow breathing, but his empty stare finally found her. The expression in his eyes was one of utter terror. Beyond his panting breaths, he wasn’t moving. She noticed that there was no blood, just a clean hole in his shirt where the spike had struck. That definitely wasn’t normal.

And then something happened that made her drop the device from nerveless fingers.

Before her widened eyes, Lucifer was changing, morphing into something else. His pale skin darkened, turned reddish, seemed to shrink away from his face to expose the raw flesh and bones beneath; his hair disappeared; his normally brown-black eyes, fixed on Chloe all the while, turned to orange within dark sclera that no longer looked human, surrounded by skin that appeared dark red, in stark contrast to where the white of the bones surrounding his eye sockets showed through. Even his hands were affected; they now seemed like something straight out of - well, hell.

She could feel her lips go numb; blackness encroached upon her field of vision, but she staved off the impending bout of passing out by taking a couple of deep breaths and invoking her native stubbornness. She was a cop. She was not injured. Her partner needed her. She had no physical reason to faint. Ergo, she wouldn’t.

Then, the thing lying gasping and twitching before her made a soft, weak sound of despair. It had Lucifer’s voice. It was still Lucifer. He might not be changing back; he might continue to be this strange, burned-looking creature that Chloe’s senses refused to take in completely, but he was in distress, he clearly needed her help, and she was damned if she passed out now or refused to help him just because she was a little overwhelmed by what she was seeing.

She’d figure this out later. _Deal with the emergency now, Decker. Go to pieces after._

“It’s okay,” she forced out, her voice sounding alien to her own ears, not knowing whether she was talking to Lucifer or to herself. “I’ve got this. I’ve got this.”

Reaching down, she picked her phone back up and forced her brain in gear. The hospital was a no-go, obviously. They wouldn’t know what to do with it… him, even less than she did. Then it hit her. The person to call now was Maze, who had once claimed to have been forged in the fires of Hell.

“Yes, Chloe!” her roommate’s voice came when the call had connected, sounding so incongruously eager and cheerful that Chloe had to fight off another bout of blackness.

“Maze,” she said, trying to force her voice to sound normal and failing. “I need your help.” On the ground in front of her, Lucifer was staring at her out of his dark red eyes, now lying utterly still. She was grateful. She suspected that, if he made a move, any move, her precarious self-control would shatter and she’d run away screaming.

“Sure,” Maze said easily. “What can I do?”

Chloe swallowed down bile. “Come… come over here and…-” Her voice broke. She realized she was hyperventilating.

“Are you alright?” Maze asked, sounding concerned now. “Do I need to kill someone? Where are you?”

“I’m fine,” she said, “it’s Lucifer. I’m… -” Where was she? She couldn’t remember. Some parking lot somewhere. “Lucifer is…He’s... I’m…” Her voice flat out refused to cooperate at this point, which wasn’t so bad, since her brain was clearly beginning to shut down on her.

She could hear Maze swear and the sound of a door slamming shut. “I’m on my way. Chloe? Just stay calm. I’m tracking your phone. I’ll be there in a few seconds. Okay? Chloe? Are you still there? Don’t go. Talk to me. Tell me what happened.”

She was still staring at Lucifer, unable to look away. By now, she found she was beginning recognize his familiar features in the hellish visage; they were there in the height of the cheekbones, in the jawline, in the shape of the nose and brow…

“Chloe?”

With a jolt, she came back to herself. “There was this woman,” she said slowly, trying to focus. “She had a… a crossbow.”

“A woman with a crossbow, got it,” came Maze’s voice. In the background, Chloe could hear strange sounds, almost but not quite as if Maze were running. More like flapping sounds? “Keep talking. What happened then?”

“She shot… the crossbow… at Lucifer.” Focusing on the immediate past actually helped. Chloe silently congratulated Maze on her unexpected psychological skill. “The bolt hit him. It’s still in him. I thought it best to leave it in. He’s not bleeding, but he’s not moving, either. Like, at all. The bolt did something to him. Maze, he’s changed. It’s… “ She choked. “He’s looking like -” Her voice gave out again. Not quite so recovered as all that, apparently.

“Dammit,” Maze said succinctly. “Like the Devil. Chloe, he’s looking like the Devil. I think I know what this is, Chloe. The bolt didn’t turn him into anything, it just kinda made you see the truth. Just… stay calm, okay? He hasn’t changed, you got that? He’s still Lucifer, same as he’s always been. Don’t panic. I can see you now, I’ll be right there.”

“Yeah. Okay.” She put the phone away.

Lucifer made another wretched sound. His right hand twitched where it was lying on his abdomen.

Chloe stared at it. So different from his beautiful, elegant pianist’s hand. But his voice was still the one she had come to know and love, and the sound he made tore at her as though the bolt had penetrated her instead of him. “Lucifer,” she said, forcing herself to look back at that terrible face. “It’s gonna be alright.”

The red eyes bored into her. Their joint breathing, fast and shallow, was the only sound.

Then Maze was there. The fact that Chloe hadn’t heard a car didn’t even register as something to be questioned. Quick as a thought, Maze knelt down next to Chloe to peer at her from up close. “You’re doing great, Chloe,” she said, giving an encouraging smile. “You’re still here, and you’ve still got it relatively together. That’s a very good start.”

For the first time since all this had happened, Chloe felt a stab of an emotion other than numb horror. “Told you I’m fine. Take care of _him_ , dammit.”

Maze’s face assumed an expression of surprised approval. “Even better than together. Yes, Ma’am.” With that, she leaned over Lucifer, blocking Chloe’s view. “I’m here,” she said to him. “I’ll take care of it.” With a yank, she pulled the bolt out and glared at it. It was a silvery clean spike, no blood on it.

There was no blood on Lucifer’s chest, either, just a small hole in his shirt where the spike had been.

Chloe briefly closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Maze, what’s wrong with him? Why is he looking like… this…?”

Maze put the spike into an inside pocket of her leather jacket. “We don’t have time for explanations now. Where’s your car? We need to get him to safety before a mortal spots him. Other than you, obviously. C’mon.”

With easy strength, Maze bent down, gathered Lucifer up and rose with him in her arms. “You’re driving,” she stated briskly as she began to walk, carrying her burden cradled against her. “I’ll sit in the back with him and keep him from falling off the seat in a tight curve.”

Chloe merely nodded, grateful for the fact that Maze was calling the shots and she didn’t have to think right now.

And so, she found herself in her car, driving along with no destination, while in the back seat Maze was sitting with her arm wrapped around Lucifer.

“That spike is an angel’s weapon,” Maze said. “I think it’s called a Piercer of Lies. I’ve never actually seen one, but word downstairs is that it will disrupt any glamour and render the target paralyzed until its work is done. In Lucifer’s case, it disrupted his angelic glamour, so what you’re seeing now is his Devil form. The one he tried to keep you from seeing all this time. That’s one of the lies the spike pierced.”

Chloe nodded to acknowledge that she had heard, if not really understood, what Maze had said. “So it was all true,” she latched onto the single thing she did understand. “When he said he’s the Devil…”

Maze met her gaze in the rearview mirror. “Oh yeah. Everything he ever told you about himself was the absolute and literal truth. High time you finally believed him.”

The Devil. A fallen angel. Lucifer was not named after the Devil, he _was_ the Devil. A.k.a Satan, the Lord of Hell. All the things he’d said, about doing favors, about his dad - Chloe’s mind refused to go there -, about him and priests being natural enemies, about him being a punisher, about having had his _wings cut off_ \- ...

Chloe shook her head briskly, hoping that the facts she had learned would somehow settle in her mind so the world would go back to making sense. But how could it? This meant that it was all true. God. Angels. Hell. Heaven. The Devil. Demons. Damnation.

How was she, an atheist, supposed to deal with that?

She decided to begin by focusing on the here-and-now. “Uh, where are we going, Maze? Where will he be safe in case she comes back?”

Maze scoffed. “Not anywhere on earth. Only place he’s safe from angels is hell. Since that’s out, we’re taking him to Lux. He’ll be most comfortable in his own home until this shit wears off.”

“And how long will that take?” Chloe asked, taking a left turn.

She could see Maze shrug. “Until the lessons are learned, apparently.” She scoffed again. “Angelic magic. Stupid complicated.”

 

* * *

 

Fortunately, it was too early for Lux to be open, which meant no lines at the entrance, and so they managed to bring Lucifer from the car inside the building without anyone seeing him. Maze carried him easily up to his penthouse and straight into his bed.

Chloe considered it a sign of resuming brain activity that she finally managed to wonder about Maze’s unexpected physical prowess. The ex-bartender certainly didn’t look brawny, and Lucifer was a tall man. “So…” Chloe said, watching Maze fuss over Lucifer from where she was standing next to the bed, “are you an angel as well?”

Maze looked up from where she was making Lucifer comfortable, opening his shirt and taking off his shoes. Her expression turned into one of disgust. “Definitely not. I’m a demon. I’m his demon. He made me.”

“Okay.” Chloe nodded, distracted by Lucifer’s eyes. They were open, tracking, and kept returning to her, still red-orange in a red Devil’s face. Looking strangely un-terrifying, more like ... terrified.

Before she had time to ponder that, Maze, having finished draping the black comforter over Lucifer, turned to her. “Right,” she said. “Now. Excellent work on the holding it together, Decker. Couple of things you need to realize before you do go into hysterics.”

Chloe nodded again, more firmly this time. She had no intention of going into hysterics this long after the fact, but the strange, fluttery feeling in her chest told her that she wasn’t out of the woods yet. “Okay.”

Maze sat down on the edge of Lucifer’s bed, blocking Chloe’s view of him much to her relief, and took one of his hands in both of hers. “Listen. Angels use the Truth Spike to teach each other lessons. It’s imbued with a spell. The one who’s hit is unable to use any kind of disguise while it lasts. This,” she lifted Lucifer’s hand, demonstrating how inhuman it was looking, “is the obvious effect. Not the only one, though. He can’t disguise his own feelings, not to anyone around him, not to himself. He’s emotionally naked now. Anyone can see what he’s feeling, and he can’t lie to himself either.”

Chloe looked at the hand, her brain stalling. Something inside her kept whispering that this was not happening, that she was dreaming or maybe even in a coma in some hospital somewhere.

Maze glared at her. “Do you get it? He’s completely vulnerable, even more so than he usually is when you’re around. You’ve got some sort of power over him. That should be impossible, but it is what it is. You can hurt him deeply at the best of times, so think about what it’ll do to him if you decide to run away screaming from him now when he has no defenses.”

Chloe swallowed, nodding, the terrified look in Lucifer’s eyes fresh in her mind.

“Do you get it?” Maze repeated intently.

“Yes, I do,” Chloe said, not liking how brittle her own voice sounded.

“Good. Now prove it.” With that, Maze lifted the monstrous hand she was holding and held it up to Chloe.

The reddish fingers were twitching.

She stared, trying to make herself move.

“Decker!” Maze hissed.

From behind Maze, she could hear Lucifer’s panting breaths. _Terrified_.

That sound finally gave her the strength to push past her own paralysis. Reaching out her hand, she made her fingers touch Lucifer’s.

The first thing she noticed was how inhumanly warm the skin was. And it was skin, no matter how much it might look like raw flesh; it felt smooth, very smooth, and very warm. Carefully, she closed her hand about the long fingers, feeling them twitch as they tried to curl around hers.

Maze gave her an approving nod and a bright smile. “See? Not so bad, right?”

Chloe looked at their joined hands, raising her other one to cover Lucifer’s in both of hers. Whatever terrible things her subconscious kept expecting to happen continued to not happen. “Yeah,” she said, beginning to relax. “Not bad at all.”

Maze beamed at her. “I gotta admit I didn’t think you had it in you. That damned spike is teaching all of us a lesson, apparently.”

Chloe’s thumbs had begun to gently stroke the hot fingers she was holding as if trying to calm their trembling. It felt good not to be so in shock anymore; almost like a rush. She was beginning to think that maybe she could really do this.

“Right,” Maze said. “Now for the hardest bit. Don’t fuck this up, Decker, or I swear I’ll rip your heart out and eat it.” With that, she stood up from the bed, once more revealing the sight of the Devil’s face to Chloe.

Their eyes met. His were wide, unblinking, pleading.

She could feel his hand go utterly still in hers, could hear him hold his breath.

Realized that she, too, had stopped breathing.

His Devil face had lost much of its horror for her now that she had seen it before, but this wasn’t just about being able to stand the sight of it. This was about acceptance, complete acceptance of this aspect of him. And every second she was making him wait was a second he spent in fear of her rejection.

She had kissed his human face, had loved touching him, spending time with him, just being around him. He was infuriating, unbridled, uninhibited, sometimes even violent, but also charming, honorable, truthful, and a genuinely good person. She suspected that she was more than just a little bit in love with him.

All that had to still be there now. His being hadn’t changed. Still the same old Lucifer, no matter what he might look like now. Now matter what rap the Devil might get.

Suddenly, it was easy.

Not letting go of his hand, she took the place Maze had just vacated on the edge of his bed. Then she leaned forward, her eyes never leaving his. “It’s okay,” she whispered.

His lips parted on a sharp inhale.

Chloe kept her eyes open until she could feel the heat of his lips against hers.

They still felt the same.

Freeing one hand, she placed it alongside his face as she kept kissing him gently, caressing him, feeling the impossibly smooth skin of his face, the smoothness that made it glisten, but not with moisture. Carefully, she ran her hand towards the back of his head, wanting to touch more of him, ending the kiss only to immediately kiss him again, and again.

He still couldn’t move, but she could feel his breath hitch. So she pulled back at last to look at his face.

It was wet, his eyes brimming over with tears.

“Oh, Lucifer,” she whispered, feeling her own eyes fill.

There were no more words, only the need to feel him, to reassure, to calm him, so she kicked off her shoes and climbed into the bed with him, threading one arm underneath his neck to cradle his head against her and be as close to him as she possibly could.

Long minutes passed. The intense heat from Lucifer’s body slowly permeated her own as she continued to caress him and kiss his tears away. Emotionally naked, Maze had described it.

She smiled. “So,” she said, “the Devil really is a big softie.”

His eyes found hers. He blinked, freeing fresh tears.

She kissed him again. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone.”

His lips twitched. At the same time, she could feel his arm come up against her shoulder and his fingers tighten around her hand where she had held his all this time.

And then, she watched the Devil’s eyes fade away to be replaced by Lucifer’s familiar brown ones.

He blinked and opened his mouth. “I should bloody well hope so.”

Laughing, she drew back to take in the familiar sight of his human form. “So, what, that was it? We’ve all learned our lessons?”

He nodded, eyes soft. “Seems so.” She could feel him stretch, moving against her body, his muscles tensing and relaxing with obvious enjoyment. “Oh, that’s better.”

She anchored one hand in his thick black hair, grateful to have it back, and gave a playful tug.

His eyes widened. “Ow. What was that for?”

“You lied to me, Mister,” she said, assuming her stern cop expression.

“Never,” he protested, eyes still wide. “Point of pride for me, actually, as you very well know.”

“I didn’t mean the things you told me, Lucifer. I meant this.” She released his hair to gesture at his face. “You said a while ago that there was no obvious proof for you being the Devil, when all along you could have just shown me your Devil face.”

He frowned. “I use that face to scare and punish people.”

“You’ve never shown it to any of your friends?”

“Oh, I did, once, to Doctor Linda. Took her a whole week to get over it. I didn’t want to take the chance with you going crazy.”

She compressed her lips. “I can take it, as you’ve just seen.”

He had the decency to look embarrassed. “Yes, well. You weren’t ready before, but I was gearing up to it.”

“Really.”

“I never lie, Chloe. Yes, really. I would have shown you soon. Azrael just pre-empted me. Bloody typical.”

“Azrael. Your sister.”

“Mhm. Of course, it’s not her fault, really. Dear old Dad once again decided to meddle, so He sent her to rudely disrupt my perfect plans for the rest of our day today. How much time has passed, anyway?”

“Dunno. Couple of hours, maybe.”

“Excellent. So there’s still time for sex and cuddling before you have to go and be bored in the precinct.” He waggled his eyebrows.

Chloe couldn’t help but laugh. Just like that, they were back to normal. “So, really no horns,” she said, going along with him, because really, what else could she do? He was the Devil.

“Told you.” He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her close.

She nuzzled into his neck. “Pity.”

“Why?”

“I had a dream about you. Sexy dream. You had horns. They were… practical.”

“Oh? Do tell me more, Detective.”

 

* * *

 

In the main room, Maze was listening with half an ear while carefully stowing away the Truth Spike in her boot. She was impressed with how well it had worked, even on someone as powerful as the Lord of Hell. And with this many celestials around, you never knew when something like that might come in handy.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Turns out the story wasn't finished with me yet.

“Show me again,” Chloe said softly.

She could see his profile as he lay supine next to her, could see his ridiculous lashes moving as he opened his eyes. Moving slowly, lazily, he raised himself up on one elbow to look at her, his other hand framing and caressing her face, a quizzical smile on his face.

Their lovemaking had been everything she had expected and more. Again, Lucifer hadn’t lied when he had talked about his sexual stamina and carnal knowledge. But what had really surprised her was how considerate a lover he had turned out to be, always putting her desires before his own, making sure that he was making her feel good at all times, never rushing her, easily responding to her every cue. Without his trick of knowing what she desired to fall back on, he’d been forced to rely on reading her expressions and body language or even downright asking what she needed, but that hadn’t impeded him at all.

Eventually, she had fallen asleep in his arms, totally sated, her head on his shoulder, and her last thought before she drifted off wondering how human his heartbeat sounded under her ear, considering the fact that he was the Devil.

She had so many questions.

He looked at her, not pretending to misunderstand. “I had no idea you were such a masochist,” he said, voice a little rough. “Why on earth would you subject yourself to the sight twice in one day?”

She raised her hand to touch his face just as he was touching hers, both of them unable to keep their hands off each other. “It’s a part of you I don’t know,” she tried to explain. “I want to get to know it. I want to learn everything about you.”

His expression grew guarded. “Everything?”

She smiled. “Yes.” Her thumb moved to smooth the crinkle between his eyebrows as if to erase his doubts. “I know. I know you’re the Devil. I got it. I realize that there’s a lot of … dark stuff in you. That look in your eyes, right there. Like you don’t trust this, us.” She raised her head to brush a kiss on his lips. “I want that gone. I want you to really feel secure.”

He blinked, and if anything, his face tensed up even more. “You wouldn’t like most of it,” he said, so softly that she could hardly hear him.

“Lucifer,” she said intently, “you thought that I couldn’t bear to see your true face, remember? I’m stronger than you give me credit for. I’m not so naive to think that some things I might learn about you won’t shock me.”

He snorted, looking away. “Putting it mildly.”

“But,” she went on, gently turning his head to make him meet her eyes again, “I’ll come around in the end. You won’t drive me away. But I need to have trust between us.”

She realized that he was breathing faster. “I have never lied to you.”

“I know,” she said, needing to reassure him. The truth was so important to him. “And do you believe me when I say that I’ll never lie to you, either?”

He blinked, frowning.

The look in his eyes caused something to contract in her chest. “Lucifer? Do you trust me?”

He blinked again, and briefly, a grimace distorted his features. “I believe you wouldn’t willingly or knowingly lie to me,” he said after a moment.

An evasion. Chloe had interrogated too many suspects in her time not to recognize it, or not to realize when she was getting close to the heart of the matter. “There,” she said, shifting them both until she was leaning over him, her hands framing his face, looking straight into his dark eyes. “That right there. What does that mean? What are you hiding? Tell me the full truth, Lucifer. Please.”

A part of her wondered about her boldness. Then again, she had been ordering the Devil around almost since day one. And more importantly, he had submitted to her, had backed down and tempered his rage at a touch or a few words from her. She might know now who he really was, but she found that she still wasn’t afraid of him.

He returned her gaze, eyes wide open and vulnerable, and she knew she had him.

“Chloe,” he said, his arms closing around her, enveloping her in his warmth. “Are you sure you want to know? This knowledge will change your life.”

“More than knowing that you’re the Devil does?” she quipped, trying to lighten the mood.

“Yes,” he said, still serious. “This is about you, not me.”

She nodded. “In that case, you bet I want to know.”

He smiled briefly. “Should have known. Okay.” He closed his eyes, visibly bracing himself, letting go of her.

She moved away a bit, giving him space.

“Your conception was the result of divine intervention,” he said slowly. Now that he had resolved to tell her, his voice was firm and his expression determined. “Your parents were unable to have children. So Dad sent Amenadiel, the First Angel, down to earth to bless your mother. You, Chloe Jane Decker, are a miracle. A literal miracle, a godsend.”

She gaped at him.

He fell silent, giving her a moment to digest that.

After several false starts, she came up with, “That doesn’t sound so bad, you know.”

“I’m not finished. As an atheist, you may not be aware of this, but Dad does have this annoying omniscience thing working for him. He knew I’d leave Hell, that I’d go to Los Angeles. He put you here for the sole purpose that you and I would cross paths.” Again, he paused to allow her to catch up.

This time, she didn’t know what to say.

“What I don’t know is, whether this -” he gestured at the two of them in his bed, “- was part of His design as well. Whether you really have free will. Whether this really is your choice, and not the result of His manipulations. Or what His ultimate plan is.”

Nope, still at a loss for words.

But he still wasn’t done. “I’m vulnerable when I’m in your presence. Vulnerable enough to actually die. If Dad were out to harm me, possibly even to get me killed, what better way to go about it than to send someone who made me mortal for me to fall in love with, to bind myself to? Celestials play these games all the time. Everyone is a pawn in everyone else’s game. Part of the reason I rebelled.”

Finally rallying, she put a hand on his cheek. “Lucifer, slow down.”

He fell silent, looking at her unhappily.

She felt something dangerously close to giddiness bubbling up. “Uh, did you just say that you love me?”

His expression visibly derailed. “I did, didn’t I?”

She allowed the giddiness to reach her face. “I think so. Pretty sure I heard you say so.”

“And I never lie.” He reached out to brush a lock of her hair behind her ear. “Did you hear the rest of what I said? About how I’m still not sure whether this is real?” The insecurity was back in his eyes.

She forced herself to focus. “Okay. To recap. God made me for us to meet. Sounds crazy, but not any crazier than you being the Devil, and I know that’s true, so I’m just going to go along with it for now. You suspect that His motivation was for you to fall in love with me - like that’s a foregone conclusion. Agreed so far?”

He nodded, an amused little smile on his lips that she liked seeing there much more than the look of doubt in his eyes.

“Right. You also suspect that I had no say in this. That I, since I was literally made for you, would mindlessly play my part in His game. Still agreed?”

He nodded again, back to looking anxious.

Time to get rid of that look once and for all. “Well, if that’s so, why was my first reaction to you when I met you back during the Delilah case a mixture of dislike and revulsion? Wouldn’t it have made much more sense for me to fall head over heels in love, at first sight?”

His eyebrows rose. “Yes, you did say something to that effect. I also seem to remember you being very adamant about never, ever sleeping with me. Repeatedly.”

She smiled. “See? That doesn’t add up. I actively disliked you for quite a while. Then you proceeded to worm your way into my heart bit by bit, not because I was made to love you, but despite my best efforts to keep you out. I resisted at first, again of my own free will. But because you’re you, and because you wouldn’t stop being you at me, eventually I realized I might as well stop fighting and let it happen. Again, of my own free will. Nobody told me to. No voice in my head whispering to me as I fell asleep. No angelic appearance ordering me to give in. It was all me. Just a chick falling in love, happens all the time. Only this time it was with the Devil.”

Now it was his turn to gape at her. “Chloe…”

She leaned forward and kissed him. “Lucifer, trust me. Trust this. May your dad strike me down if I lie. I love you because I want to love you. Whatever His plan was, that wasn’t part of it.”

He actually looked towards the ceiling for a second or two. When nothing happened, he smiled, the genuine smile the world saw so rarely. “All right. Let’s go with that for now.”

She could see that a long road lay ahead of him. The Devil didn’t trust easily. But it was enough for her that he was willing to try.


	3. Chapter 3

He didn’t show her his true form in private again until a week later.

They had solved two cases together. Nothing much had changed about their working arrangement. Chloe still rolled her eyes at his occasional cheerful disregard of protocol; Lucifer still did whatever he felt like doing in order to get results, bending people and events to his will with his sheer Luciferness, gleefully and unrepentantly, while Chloe did her best to steer him in the direction her intuition told her to go. It worked, and it worked well, just like it had before.

One difference was that he didn’t make any effort to keep her from seeing him when he unleashed his true form anymore. She certainly didn’t mind seeing it. On the contrary; now that she knew, watching him exert his powers gave her an unexpected thrill. Like before, she remained secure in the knowledge that she could call him off at a moment’s notice. He would grumble about it, but she knew that he didn’t really want to physically harm anyone; he didn’t need to in order to do his job punishing people. He might use his wrath to scare the guilty, but he had no desire to let it overwhelm him, so he was content to take her cues on when it was enough. That, too, hadn’t changed.

Satan himself was hers to command. He was her nuclear weapon, and every cop knew that weapons needed to be taken care of and used properly. You don’t keep such a weapon in its holster when the time comes; you use it for what it was designed to do. But you never abuse it, either. So, while she let him do what he did so well, it also was her job to see to it that he didn’t go overboard.

Another difference was that now, when he told her that he needed her far away, she knew why, and what he was up to.

Their third case together - killer on the run, hostage situation, evacuation of a school building, eighteen children trapped in a classroom with the perp armed to the teeth - had Lucifer looking at her with hellfire in his eyes, and she understood immediately.

“How far away?” she asked simply.

He’d banked the fire in his eyes before anyone from the SWAT team saw, but his expression remained forbidding. His punisher face, she privately called it. “Two miles, to be safe.”

Nodding briskly, she clapped a hand to his shoulder. “I’ll give you a signal. Don’t kill him, Lucifer.”

“Spoiling my fun again,” he growled, but he nodded his assent.

That was all she needed. “All right,” she told the SWAT unit leader, “you guys sit tight and let my partner handle this.”

“What -”

“He’ll explain. Gotta go.” A bright smile, and she was on her way to her car, already trying to figure out what to put into her report this time.

Forty-one seconds later, she radioed in. “This is unit 8-3-1. Lucifer, go. Everyone else, sit tight. I’m sending the Devil in.”

Turned out that what had worked for Lucifer worked for her as well. All she did was tell the truth, and nobody batted an eye, especially not in view of the results.

And the sight of Satan surrounded by grateful children, an expression of mild panic on his face, was icing on the cake.

They spent as much of their off-duty time together as possible, either in her apartment when Trixie was with Dan, and Maze was away on a hunt, or in his penthouse above Lux. The sex was by turns wild and uninhibited or slow and tender; everything she had fantasized it would be and more, and knowing that she was giving her body to the Devil didn’t detract from the pleasure at all; quite the contrary - it added an undeniable and almost irresistible thrill. Where his charms hadn’t worked on her before, she was now ready and willing to let herself be seduced.

With her perception of the world and of her partner thoroughly and irrevocably altered, Chloe felt like she had to get to know Lucifer all over again, so they also talked, a lot. He patiently told her everything she wanted to learn about him, his past, his family, but no matter how open he appeared, Chloe kept sensing the same wariness about him that she had noticed before. And she had no idea why it was there or how to dispel it.

Maybe he was still afraid she would run for the hills eventually, despite everything they had shared? Maybe, after all that had happened to him during his long existence, he simply was unable to believe that someone might actually love him without any ulterior motives, or only to manipulate him? Maybe he was just waiting for the other shoe to drop?

Well, in that case she was simply going to spend the rest of her life proving to him that she wasn’t a part of his father’s games.

They lay sprawled on his bed, half on top of and half under the sheets, entwined in one another. Lucifer was worshipping her with his eyes and hands - there really was no other word for the besotted expression on his face or the gentleness of his caresses -, and Chloe was staring at his beautiful dark eyes from up close. So close that she could see the gradients of dark brown to black in his irises and could have counted each of his ridiculously long lashes.

She raised her hand to stroke her fingers up along the side of his face and into his hair. “So… How does this work?”

She could practically see his brain seize the opportunity. “If you haven’t grasped that by now, I must have been woefully - and uncharacteristically - remiss in my efforts. But by all means, let’s go again immediately to rectify that.”

She smiled. “Lucifer.”

He tried to give her his most innocent expression, only to end up stalling somewhere in the area of mischievous. “Yes, Detective?”

With her fingers still in his hair, she could feel the warmth of his scalp beneath the cool strands, could feel the texture of his unblemished skin. “Your face. Your whole body. It’s an illusion, right?” She kissed him, hugged him close to breathe in his scent. “But it feels real, smells like real skin. How does that work?”

She felt his lips brush against her neck as he wrapped one arm around her. “Does it matter?”

She moved back slightly to be able to look at his big, beautiful eyes again. “Not really. I’m just curious.”

He smiled. “And tenacious, like a terrier.” He sounded unaccountably proud.

“And I want to understand. Will you… would you show me again, Lucifer?”

He lay back to regard her silently for a moment, and she felt doubt assail her. She wanted to dispel his uncertainty, not hurt him.

“Unless you don’t want to. I mean, you don’t have to, if it’s unpleasant in any way.”

He tilted his head to one side in the way he did when he tried to wrap his mind around the peculiarities of human behavior. “It’s not that. I just don’t understand why you would want to. I’d have thought it’d be at the very least unpleasant for you to look at it. I mean, people do tend to become a tad unhinged when they see it.”

“I like this face much better, yeah,” she said, stroking a thumb across his brow and down his nose, “but it’s not your real face, right?”

He sighed, eyes closing briefly under her touch. “Not anymore, no. It’s a glamour, an illusion. It’s very similar to what I looked like before the Fall, though.”

Chloe nodded. “Okay… Thing is, to truly be able to say that I love you, I first need to be able to say that I love all of you. And that includes your true form.”

He blinked and gave a funny sort of smile. “Warts and all?”

She could see how much this was affecting him, so she tried to keep things light. “Hmm, sort of. So. It’s not unpleasant for you to show me, yeah? It doesn’t… hurt, right?”

He favored her with another one of his uncomprehending glances. “Why would it hurt?”

“Because you look like a fresh burn victim, Lucifer. I can’t imagine it not hurting.”

“Well,” he conceded, “you’re not wrong. Falling from such a height tends to burn stuff up a little, just ask meteors. But don’t worry, it happened literally eons ago.Stopped hurting around the time humanity invented bow and arrow.”

She didn’t ask how long that had been after he Fell. How long he had, in fact, been in pain. Instead, she stroked his forehead, as if she could take away this ancient torment with her touch. Bracing herself. “Show me.”

“If you insist.” He still looked doubtful, but he conceded to her, again.

She bit her lip, pretty certain that she didn’t deserve that much power. That nobody did.

With her hand on his face, she could feel him shift as much as see him do it, and less than a second later, the Devil lay next to her, regarding her uncertainly.

That torn look in his dark red eyes sparked an immediate need in her to reassure him. Gently, she trailed her fingers over his scorched face, over his now hairless head, down his neck and across the broad expanse of his chest, her sense of touch confirming what her eyes were seeing. “It certainly looks painful,” she said softly, not ceasing her gentle stroking.

She felt as well as heard him take a breath. Then he raised a hand slowly, hesitantly, stopping just before he reached her face. “May I…?”

Hearing Lucifer’s familiar voice emerge from that mouth further grounded her. Chloe blinked, smiling. “Of course. Tit for tat, right?

He smiled, a little tremulously, the smile, too, seeming strangely familiar on his devilish visage. Hesitantly, he let his hand close the remaining distance to her face.

His fingertips felt rough and very warm as they carefully traveled over her cheek; in fact, Chloe again noticed how hot his skin now was. Still radiating the heat of hellfire? Or did she just feel his true body temperature more immediately, now that the protective glamour was gone?

Raising her own hand, she stroked the back of his hand as he was touching her face, wanting to show him that his touch was welcome, even now.

Especially now.

How often, she wondered, had he been allowed to touch someone with affection while in this form? How often had he himself been touched gently, tenderly, in this form or otherwise? And, for that matter, how many of his endless string of lovers had ever given him more than meaningless sex?

How long had he existed without knowing that he was indeed worthy of receiving tenderness, of being loved despite of, and indeed because of, what he was?

Had he even realized that he so obviously needed it?

Looking back into his dark red eyes, she noticed that they were brimming with wetness. Worried, she leaned over him. “What’s wrong?”

He blinked, making the tears run down the sides of his burned face. “Nothing’s wrong,” he said softly, sounding confused. “I’m pretty sure I’m feeling happy. I don’t know why I’m doing this. I don’t want to be doing this.” He snorted. “Bloody human emotions. Don’t know how you can stand ‘em.”

Feeling none-too-steady herself, she kissed the wetness on his scorched temple away. “They’re not strictly human emotions, it seems.”

He took a shuddering breath. “Well, I’ve never felt anything like this before. For the record, I blame you entirely.”

“I accept the blame,” she said solemnly. “D’you think you could get used to it?”

His other arm came up to gently close about her shoulders, enveloping her in his heat. “I honestly don’t think I ever will, but I’ll do my best not to make such a pathetic spectacle of myself again in the future.”

She kissed him again. “Having these feelings doesn’t make you pathetic, Lucifer. I’ll punch anyone in the face who ever calls you that. Including you, if necessary.”

He made a sound between a laugh and sob. “I believe you.”

She framed his devilish face with both her hands, looking into those hellish eyes with all the intensity of which she was capable. “Then believe this, too: You  _ are _ worthy. This  _ is _ real. God may have orchestrated all of this - and that’s not something I ever thought I’d say -, but it doesn’t make it any less real. Lucifer, I love you. I can now say this with all my heart. Do you believe me?”

He didn’t say anything for a time, merely looked at her in silence.

She wondered what was going on in his mind. The Devil didn’t lie - was he trying to phrase a response that would be a sort of truth, but not the whole truth? Did he really not believe her? Did he still not trust this thing they undeniably had between them? How deep did his suspiciousness go? And if all she had done so far was not enough, what else was she supposed to do to convince him, to make him able to trust her?

Finally, he took a breath and exhaled it through his nose. The air from his lungs brushed her skin with dry heat, like wind in the desert. “To hell with Dad,” he said firmly. “I believe you.”

She laughed in relief, then hugged him close.

He returned the hug hesitantly, as if he still wasn’t used to being embraced, not even after Trixie, or her.

Wanting to reassure him further, she once again ran her hands over his body, feeling his inhuman warmth, the strange structures of his devilish form, the hard contours.

He shuddered, then drew her close, and with one hand pulled the comforter over them both. Trapping his heat underneath.

She wondered whether he was cold. The air in his penthouse had always seemed very warm. Up till now, she’d assumed it was because of the regular orgies he held here; high temperatures probably were much easier on half or fully naked bodies (not that she’d ever actually been to an orgy). But maybe it really was just for his own comfort, angelic being that he was. Maybe Earth simply felt cold to him.

“What happens now?” she said, suddenly assailed by her own doubts.

He looked at her. “Well, first of all….” And he changed back. “Enough with the masochism, Detective. At least with this kind of it. We can explore the more fun kind later, if you’re game.” His now dark eyes twinkled, the Devil’s grin on his lips.

Her hands found his hair again as if drawn there by a magnet. “I’m serious, Lucifer.” She paused, collecting her thoughts. “How is this supposed to work? You’re the Devil, the Prince of Darkness. A fallen angel. A celestial being. I’m… me. If anything, I’m not worthy -” She trailed off at his reaction.

His eyes flashed hellfire. “Don’t ever say that! Don’t you  _ dare _ ever say you’re not worthy! I will rip out anyone’s guts who says that about you, and I’ll….” he blinked, his eyes turning back to their calmer dark brown - “... I’ll reprimand you very severely if you do it.”

She stared at him, torn between being scared and chastised, turned on and amused and touched. In the end, amused and touched won out. “I believe you,” she quoted his earlier words.

He nodded, still breathing heavily. “You bloody well should.”

She supposed there must be something wrong with her, but she really found him adorable right now, even though, at the same time, she didn’t doubt his words. But honestly, who wouldn’t be flattered by this display? Who wouldn’t think that he was adorable for berating her for something he himself was guilty of?

She snuggled closer to her armful of Devil, who still was radiating inhuman warmth and residual wrath, seeking to soothe him, calm him, and finally, he heaved one last deep breath and relaxed all muscles at once, and she shuffled them both around until she could wrap her arms around his neck and hold him close.

“I want to make this work,” she found herself saying, running her hand up and down his back, carefully avoiding his scars. “Even if I have no idea how.”

“Well,” he said against her neck, his stubble scratching her lightly, like feathers. “We can take it one day at a time. Seems to work for you mortals, usually.”

She smiled, running her fingertips over the place where his horns would be. “Sounds like a plan.”


	4. Chapter 4

She could tell when he  entered their level of the precinct building from the way everyone around her reacted.

Beat cops, detectives, lab techs, desk sergeants, interns suddenly sat a little straighter, faces turned towards the staircase, smiling or at least looking eager; it was like a wave rippling through her colleagues, or like so many magnetic needles turning due North.

Chloe shook her head, not quite rolling her eyes. Once again, she wondered what this effect was he clearly had on people, what it was she was missing. But maybe she wasn’t really missing anything. Maybe he had another effect on her, and her alone, because when _she_ finally laid eyes on him, she definitely felt her heart skipping a beat, the air get warmer, and the whole floor go a little brighter. Surely nobody else was responding to him quite like she did. She hoped.

She was aware that she was probably not entirely rational right now. She was still processing the reality of waking up next to the Devil to find him looking at her with wonder in his eyes; of early morning sex and coffee in bed; of shower sex and them being ridiculously domestic together in his huge bathroom doing their separate morning routines; of watching him shave while she put on her makeup; of choosing his pocket square for him while he combed through her drying hair with his fingers with such care and gentleness that it had made her heart ache.

They had decided to drive to the precinct each in their own cars. Chloe had needed to make a stopover at home to have breakfast with her daughter and to bring her to school while Lucifer checked up on Lux and took care of the minutiae required to keep his nightclub running. Besides, Chloe had argued, it wouldn’t do to give the LAPD gossip mill any more fodder than it already had.

But clearly, the Devil didn’t care about that. “Detective!” Lucifer called from all the way across the floor where he was standing near the front desk, giving her an exuberant wave as though they hadn’t seen each other just two hours previously. “We really should share a car as well as shower water tomorrow! Much more environmentally responsible, don’t you think?”

There was a pause. She could see Dan turn to look at her for confirmation, and whatever he saw on her face made him look first faintly scandalized and then resigned.

She raised her eyebrows at him, grinning, much too happy to even think of softening the blow.

A soft hubbub of mumbled “good mornings”, amused giggles, and the odd catcall followed. Several of her colleagues actually turned to look and smile at Chloe. She even spotted Ella from behind the glass partition of her workspace giving her a double thumbs-up.

Maybe the fact the Lucifer had no concept of subtlety whatsoever was not such a bad thing after all.

She watched him amble towards her desk, all lean, long-limbed elegance, exchanging smiles and brief words with each adoring person he passed; the Devil holding court. Then he planted himself with one hip on her desk, grinning at her from his impressive height, and the world narrowed down to him and only him, his eyes and his smile and the way he held himself, and she smiled up at him almost helplessly.

Man, she had it bad.

In a desperate effort to keep herself from pulling him down and snogging him there and then in front of all of Homicide, she sent him to the vending machine to get her some coffee. To her surprise, he nodded readily and did as she asked, looking for all the world like there was no better fate on this earth than to be Chloe Decker’s coffee servant.

And watching him move like walking and talking sin in his bespoke suit, she bit her lip, torn. This wasn’t right. She shouldn’t be able to order Satan around like that. She was nothing special, not compared to any of the other women he had known, and certainly not compared to _him_.

“Hey, nice going, Chloe,” Ella said from behind her, and she tore her eyes away from Lucifer to look at her friend beaming at her like Ella was the one who’d gotten laid. “Are congratulations in order? I’d say yes, so, yes?”

Chloe felt herself grinning like a maniac, her insecurities momentarily forgotten. “Yes!” she blurted in a stage whisper.

Ella did a fistpump. “About time! Come here, tribeswoman!” And Chloe found herself enveloped in a hug that she couldn’t help but return. “Oh, you’ve got to tell me everything,” Ella whispered when she had let go of Chloe.

“I am not going to tell you anything,” Chloe said, still grinning.

“Okay, okay, but I gotta know one thing.” Ella put her mouth to Chloe’s ear. “Does he at least drop the devil role, when, you know….” She trailed off and did an orgasm face.

To her surprise, Chloe felt herself blush. Giggling, she mock-punched Ella’s shoulder. “Not telling you anything,” she repeated.

Ella spread her hands. “Fine, fine!” She winked. “We’ll save it for girl’s night, okay?”

Chloe grinned, picturing how actually telling her the truth would go down. ‘Hey, Ella, Lucifer really is the Devil, by the way, so there’s no role for him to drop. Yeah, Satan himself’s been working next to you for a while now. Cool, right?’ But, who knew? Maybe Ella would surprise them all and just take it in her stride. After all, she already believed that this Heaven and Hell thing existed, so she would have a headstart, sort of.

“But, man, I’m so happy for you,” Ella went on, oblivious. “And for all of us. Means this insane sexual tension between the two of you is finally resolved and we can all breathe a little easier around here.”

Instead of punching her friend again the way she clearly deserved, Chloe found herself distracted by the sight of Lucifer slowly making his way back to her desk, coffee cup in hand and a strange little smile on his face. In fact, that smile looked so different from his usual devilish grin that Chloe took notice. He looked, she thought, happy. Almost glowed with it.

 _Please, God,_ she found herself thinking, _if You’re up there, and it seems like You really are, let him look like this more often. Possibly all the time. And forever, while You’re at it. From what I understand, he’s suffered enough. He used to be Your favorite son, right, so. Considering what You put him through, I’m not asking much. Just… let him be happy for a change._

Just then, the morning sunlight slanting into the building illuminated Lucifer from behind, casting him in an almost heavenly halo, and Chloe felt her breath stall and her throat go dry. For a moment, he really looked like the fallen angel that he was, radiant and unearthly.

Chloe briefly wondered whether that was a sign, whether her thoughts - her prayer? - had been answered.

Then Lucifer stepped out of the beam of sunlight and the illusion was gone. He was back to simply being, well, the Devil. Powerful, eternal, temptation incarnate.

“Jeez, Chloe,” Dan’s voice said behind her, “could you be any more obvious?”

“I know, right?” Ella chimed in. “Gives a new meaning to the term ‘heart eyes’, man.”

Chloe turned to them, narrowing her eyes. “Don’t you two have work to do?”

They had the gall to wink at each other before scramming.

Sighing theatrically, Chloe made her way back to her desk and to her Devil, and at the sight of him, the doubts assailed her again.

What the hell - pardon the pun - was she thinking? He was Satan incarnate. She was a mere mortal. Quite apart from everything else, on a very basic level, she only had mortal stamina. How could she ever believe that she’d be enough for him? That he’d actually stay with her? That he wouldn’t eventually get bored, or be unsatisfied, and move on from her like he had from all his countless other lovers? Who did she think she was?

Even the fact that he had threatened to ‘reprimand’ her for doubting herself didn’t help.

“Here you are, darling,” he purred, either ignoring or not noticing her mood. “Black as sin. Hot as hell. Well, not quite. Also, a lot less ashy, which is a plus. Still just vending machine coffee, I’m afraid.” He smiled as she took the cup from him, regarding her like she was the sun.

And just like that, her spirits were lifted again. When he looked at her like that, it was impossible to feel anything but loved and cherished.

 

* * *

 

It was only when she was alone with her thoughts that her doubts came back, and so, hours later, she found herself sighing heavily over the greens for Trixie’s dinner.

Maze, lounging on the couch playing with her knives, noticed. “Hey, who died?” her room mate wanted to know.

Who, Chloe reminded herself, was an actual demon. Whatever that meant.

She sighed again, slicing another bell pepper so she wouldn’t have to look at her. “Nobody died, Maze. I’m just being silly.”

The silence that this was met with clearly communicated Maze’s incomprehension. “Yeah, so?” she finally said.

Well, who else could she talk to about this? Certainly to no other human. Maybe to Amenadiel, but he wasn’t here. Chloe gave herself a mental push. “Me and Lucifer,” she said, fighting her usual reluctance to talk about herself all the way. “I… don’t see how it can work.”

Maze sat up. “Why shouldn’t it?”

Chloe supposed she shouldn’t expect that matters of feelings would be Maze’s forte. Nevertheless, she forged on. “Because I’m me.” She pointed at herself, indicating her general average-ness and non-supermodel-dom, not to mention the blatant non-celestial-ness of her mere mortal being. “And he’s the freakin’ Devil.”

“Yeah, so?” Maze repeated in the exact same intonation as before. “He chose you, didn’t he? And you’re in love with him, right?”

Chloe smiled despite herself. “Yeah, he did, and yeah, I am. But I don’t see why or how it can last, or how long.”

“Well, of course it won’t last forever, ‘cause you’re gonna die eventually, duh,” Maze said, clearly still not getting it.

Chloe opened her mouth to reply that that was not what she meant, but Maze wasn’t finished yet.

“Speaking of - when that happens, I’m gonna be the one who has to pick up the pieces, so don’t you dare kick off before your time. He’s banned from Heaven, so he won’t be able to follow you there, you know.”

That actually took the wind out of Chloe’s sails. “Are you saying…” She trailed off.

In a flash, Maze was in her face, one of her knives held up threateningly. “First you make him vulnerable and weak just by being near him, Decker, and then you go and make him fall in love with you. That has never happened before. The Lord of Hell has never loved. But now he does. I thought that was the lesson that the Truth Spike taught you, so how can you still doubt it?”

Chloe opened her mouth, but the words didn’t come.

“I don’t know what you dying is gonna do to him,” Maze went on. “None of us do. This whole thing is actually very scary for all of us. But it is what it is, so if you dare hurt him or break up with him for whatever reason, I swear I’ll curse you to feel his pain for the rest of your life.”

Chloe stared at her. She didn’t doubt for a second that Maze was deadly serious. “Can you do that?” she found herself saying.

Maze smiled brightly, flicking the knife away from Chloe’s face. “Oh yeah.” Then she frowned, considering. “Or maybe not, since you’re a miracle, apparently. I’ve never cursed a miracle before. But if you screw this up just because you’re feeling insecure, you bet I’ll try.”

Strangely enough, that actually made Chloe feel better. “Thank you, Maze.”

The demon nodded, giving her knives a cheerful twirl. “No prob. Good talk.”

 

* * *

 

Later that day, Chloe and the Devil were on a stakeout.

To Lucifer’s eloquently expressed disgust, they couldn’t use a car for their observation, since any unfamiliar vehicle in the vicinity would immediately arouse suspicion. Instead, they lay in wait in a cramped section of an unheated warehouse room behind a window, overlooking the street.

The next worse thing was that nothing happened for what felt like ages.

“How about….” Lucifer began, letting his voice trail off suggestively.

"No,” Chloe said immediately, keeping her eyes on the street below.

“You don’t even know what I was going to suggest.”

“Well, this may be a wild stab in the dark, but I’ll bet it involves sex in some way.”

She could hear him shuffle about as he readjusted his position. “As a matter of fact, it doesn’t, but what a marvelous idea, Detective. I’m up for it if you are.”

She had walked right into that one, hadn’t she. “Lucifer.”

In the near-darkness, it was hard to make out his expression, but she was sure he was grinning at her. “As I was going to say, Detective,” he said, “how about we use this time productively? And by that I don’t mean what I would call productive, but what you would call productive.”

She felt her eyebrows rise. “Okay, I’ll bite. What do you mean?”

“Well.” More shuffling. She supposed it was hard to be comfortable in this enclosed space when you were over six feet tall. “Since we’re finally on the same page, wouldn’t it make sense for you to be made aware of my ass...ets?”

She rolled her eyes, not that he would see it in this darkness. “Believe me, I’m well aware of that. Uh, those.”

“No, you’re not. Well,” he amended, and she could hear the grin in his voice, “you should be aware of my arse by now, or there’d be something seriously wrong with you. But I don’t think you’re aware of my other assets. The things I can contribute to this unit beyond my charms. And by charms I mean the charming humans to tell me their desires bit.”

“Like your relative immortality.”

“Exactly.”

“Well, I am aware of that, Lucifer. Also of the scaring people shitless by letting them see your true face bit.”

“Right. Well, there’s more.”

“Like superhuman strength? And the fact that you can get out of handcuffs and locked cars, and be on, say, the roof of a house next to a suicidal witness within seconds?”

“Well!” Again, she could imagine the delighted grin on his face from the sound of his voice. “You have been paying attention! Tell me, Detective, how’s it possible for you to have been aware of all that and still never believing me when I told you I’m the Devil?”

Good question, Chloe had to admit, especially in hindsight. “I suppose… Well, I assumed that there would be a perfectly normal explanation for all of this, like strength-enhancing drugs, double joints, special effects and stuff like that. Especially after Amenadiel tried to sell me that nonsense about bullet-proof vests and blood packs.”

“Yes, but you didn’t believe that, did you.”

“No, I didn’t.” She smiled at him, a little disappointed that she couldn’t see his beautiful eyes.

He scooted closer to be able to look out the window together with her. The low lights from the street illuminated his strong profile, and she felt her heart give a totally unprofessional flutter.

“So,” she said, half in order to distract herself and half out of genuine curiosity, “how do you do that getting out of handcuffs thing, anyway?”

She felt him touch her utility belt, and a second later he was holding the cuffs, clicking one of them onto one wrist. “Easier to show than to tell.” He held his cuffed wrist under her nose. “See? It’s locked.”

Raising one hand, she checked the cuff and found it secure. “Yeah.”

“And now…” He didn’t move, but she heard something click inside the cuffs. “Unlocked.” He shook his hand, and the cuffs fell down to the floor.

She gaped. “How…?”

“Supernatural ability. Locks won’t hold me. You can’t lock up the Devil, unless you use a Devil’s Trap, and that’s a lost art, I’m happy to say.”

She looked at him, then gave a mental shrug. After all, she didn’t understand how his form shifting thing worked, either. “And the getting from A to B really fast bit?”

“Supernatural speed. I’m really, really fast.”

“Okay.” She nodded. “So, when our target finally comes in sight - hopefully sometimes this century -, I should just let you whisk down there and get him?”

She could feel him reattach the cuffs to her belt. “Oh no, not what I was driving at at all. I’d never want to spoil your fun, Detective. I just want to you to be aware that, in a pinch, I could whisk wherever and do whatever’s needed to assist you. Like getting behind and flanking someone. Cutting off escape routes. You know, tactics and whatnot.”

It made a surprising amount of sense, she had to admit. “Okay, good. Great. I’ll keep that in mind.” She shifted until she was flush with his body next to hers. His warmth seeping through her clothes and into her skin made her realize how cold it was in this room, and she shuddered.

“Are you all right, darling?” he asked with obvious concern, putting an arm around her and pulling her close.

“Fine.” Gratefully, she snuggled into his warmth, her focus still on the street below. “I’m really ready for some movement in this case now, though.”

He sighed. “I’ve been ready for that since we got here.”

Silence fell. Chloe kept her eyes on the street while the Devil kept her warm, and her thoughts drifted.

Clearly, she was subconsciously hoping for forever with Lucifer, otherwise she wouldn’t be worrying so much about not having forever with him. And Maze seemed to think that it wasn’t even a question. Maybe, this time, she could actually allow herself to hope for something that would last, never mind that they were so different, never mind that she would never stop feeling overwhelmed by what he was.

“What’s a Devil’s Trap?” she found herself asking.

He turned to look at her, his arm still around her. For a moment, he remained silent. Then, just as the moon rose over the building across the street to cast him in a soft ephemeral glow, a look of fragile tenderness came into his eyes.

“You are.”

 

* * *

 

A period of hectic activity ensued, resulting in them finally catching their quarry, which was good, but also in keeping Chloe from following up on this momentous revelation, which was not. It was only in the late evening, after Trixie had been safely conducted into the land of dreams, that she found the opportunity to ask.

“Lucifer,” she said softly, looking at the Devil lying next to her in the bed, “are you feeling trapped?”

He leaned over her, one hand smoothing her hair away from her face as he looked so deep into her eyes that she felt she might drown in his.

“No,” he finally said. “I’d much rather exist in this fate, bound to you but together with you, than exist free and alone again. I’m not feeling trapped, since I don’t want to escape. If anything, I’m feeling blessed, and graced. It’s been a while, but I remember what it felt like.” He bent down and kissed her softly, sweetly. “Like this. Exactly like this. And I don't ever want to lose this.”

Chloe smiled. That sounded like forever to her. Maze wouldn't have to try cursing her after all. “I believe you.” And she did.

“Good,” he said. “Always the truth, Chloe.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the kudos and wonderful comments; hope you enjoyed that last bit. I really think I'm done now. (At least with this story.) :-)


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